Artem Belogurov and Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde met in Amsterdam in 2015 and it was not long before they decided to form a duo, moved by the unity of their ideas about performance practice and concordance of their aesthetic convictions.In less than a year of collaboration they presented concerts internationally - in the US, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan.In the Netherlands they performed in such halls as the Grote Zaal of the Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ in Amsterdam, and were artists-in-residence in the Fortepiano Festival Zaandijk 2016.Their upcoming projects include a recording of the complete works for fortepiano and cello by Beethoven on original instruments for the Italian label Gamma Musica as well as a tour of this repertoire in Europe, Canada and the US.

Octavie and Artem both received their Master Diplomas from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where they studied with Viola de Hoog, Richard Egarr and Menno van Delft. In addition they took part in masterclasses with Jesper Christensen and Bruno Cocset, and had lessons with Susie Napper, Shunske Sato, Jed Wentz and Kris Verhelst.

Octavie and Artem seek to create communicative and rhetorical performances that tell a story. Historical research, stylistic awareness, ornamentation, improvisation and historical instruments are their source of inspiration. They are equally at home performing music from the late 17th and early 18th centuries with continuo and sonatas with fortepiano from the Classical and Romantic eras.